Pierrot le fou (1965)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Jean-Luc Godard

Writer:

Jean-Luc Godard (writer)

Release Date:

8 January 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Crime

Plot:

Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run.

Plot Keywords:

Paris | On The Run | Mediterranean Sea | Breaking The Fourth Wall | Flashback

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Jean-Paul Belmondo	...	Ferdinand Griffon, 'Pierrot' (as Jean Paul Belmondo)
Anna Karina	...	Marianne Renoir
Graziella Galvani	...	La femme de Ferdinand

Also Known As:

Pierrot le fou (UK) (USA)
Crazy Pete
Il bandito delle 11 (Italy) (alternative spelling)
Il bandito delle ore undici (Italy)
Il bandito delle undici (Italy)
Pierrot Goes Wild

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

De Laurentiis

Trivia:

Godard said of Pierrot Le Fou that "it is not really a film, it's an attempt at cinema. Life is the subject, with [Cinema]Scope and color as its attributes...In short, life filling the screen as a tap fills bathtub that is simultaneously emptying at the same rate."

Quotes:

Ferdinard: [quoting what he has written] "That is the basic problem... you're waiting for me... I'm not there... I arrive... I enter the room... that's when I really start to exist for you... But I existed before that... I had thoughts... I may have been suffering... So the problem is to show you alive, thinking of me,and at the same time, to see me alive by virtue of that very fact." Underlined.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Decade Under the Influence (2003)

Soundtrack:

Ma Ligne de Chance

Superb! Aloof love story/biting social commentary. Very refined.

This film may not be for everyone, but it is extremely accessible as far as Godard goes. Overall, Pierrot le Fou is a lighthearted romp through the French Countryside, starring two mainstays of Godard's work. Belmondo and Karina are brilliant as a couple that love and need each other, but are too cool to mean it. They are on the run from arms dealers, but the setting and their misadventures are as flighty as the occasional musical numbers and the villains pursuing them (including a rather menacing midget). Throw in some haphazard philosophical references and you have a film that intellectuals, hippies, couples, etc. can all enjoy.